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US poster promoting victory over racism at home and fascism abroad

Object | Accession Number: 2015.525.1

US poster promoting the need for an integrated workforce to support the war effort. It depicts a black American and a white male working together to rivet an airplane. Roosevelt's June 1941 executive order prohibited discrimination in defense work. After the US declared war in December 1941, there was a labor shortage as war production increased and working men enlisted in the military. The War Manpower Commission, formed in 1942 to mobilize the work force, spotlighted the need to overcome prejudice and hire workers from all segments of the population. Black Americans also faced discrimination in the military and many saw the war as a Double-V victory in a fight against fascism and racism, at home and abroad.

Color offset lithographic poster with a black and white photographic image of a young black man and a young white man in work clothes riveting metal printed over a graphic depiction of a red, white, and blue American flag. The black man, in a cap with an upturned visor, leans over the airplane fuselage, while the light haired white man leans over the metal above him. Across the bottom in large white uppercase font is the slogan UNITED WE WIN.

Photographer:
Alexander Liberman
Author:
United States War Manpower Commission
Printer:
United States Government Printing Office
Distributor:
United States Office of War Information

Biography

The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was created June 13, 1942, to centralize and control the the content and production of government information about the war. It coordinated the release of war news for domestic use, and, using posters and radio broadcasts, worked to promote patriotism, warn about foreign spies and recruit women into war work. The office also established an overseas branch, which launched a large scale information and propaganda campaign abroad. The War Finance Committee was placed in charge of supervising the sale of all bonds, and the War Advertising Council promoted voluntary compliance with bond buying. More than a quarter of a billion dollars worth of advertising was donated during the first three years of the National Defense Savings Program. The government appealed to the public through popular culture. Victory in Europe was declared on May 8, 1945, and on September 2, 1945 in Japan. The OWI ceased operation the September.

Record last modified: 2018-03-29 07:35:28
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn535265

Also in United We Win poster collection

The collection consists of two United We Win posters produced by the United States during World War II linking the need to fight fascism on the war front with the need to fight racism on the home front.

US poster promoting the need for an integrated workforce to support the war effort. It depicts a black American and a white male working together to rivet an airplane. Roosevelt's June 1941 executive order prohibited discrimination in defense work. After the US declared war in December 1941, there was a labor shortage as war production increased and working men enlisted in the military. The War Manpower Commission, formed in 1942 to mobilize the work force, spotlighted the need to overcome prejudice and hire workers from all segments of the population. Black Americans also faced discrimination in the military and many saw the war as a Double-V victory in a fight against fascism and racism, at home and abroad.

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